1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device and a method for providing information representative of the times of certain communications in a messaging environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus are relatively small. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices. With advances in technology, handheld electronic devices are being configured to include greater numbers of features while having relatively smaller form factors.
Electronic devices, including handheld electronic devices, are capable of numerous types of communication. One type of communication is “messaging”, and one type of messaging is “instant messaging” which enables a first device to send a message on a more or less instantaneous basis to a second device. With most all instant messaging, a given electronic device is provided with an interface that outputs the various communications that have occurred between the electronic device and another electronic device during a messaging “conversation”. A sample output on an electronic device that is representative of the various communications that have occurred during a conversation may be as follows:
Hi Honey, how was your day?
<Brutal! Larry embarrassed me in front of everybody.
What a Jerk!
<Yeah, but I got him back later with a karate chop! 
good for you.
In this example, incoming messages are indicated by a greater than “>” mathematical symbol, and outgoing messages are indicated by a less than “<” mathematical symbol. If the conversation continues quickly, i.e., substantially without interruption, the messages do not need a time stamp on them. In the environment of a handheld electronic device, it would be desirable to avoid unnecessary time stamps and other unnecessary output since it occupies too much valuable space on the limited display of the handheld electronic device.
In some messaging circumstances, however, it may be desirable for information regarding certain timing aspects of conversation to be available to a user. Nevertheless, the limited space available on a display of a handheld electronic device has made a solution difficult. It thus would be desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic device and an associated method that provide time data in a messaging environment.